Dining review: Barefoot Cafe keeps it seasonal, house-made

Barefoot Café has a dedicated following for everything from the house-made cornbread that arrives in the bread basket alongside sliced baguette to the pumpkin pancakes ($14.95). Though he gets daily requests to serve the pancakes all year, Benny Senehi, who owns the Fairfax restaurant with his brother Tony, insists on the dish's seasonality, using only locally harvested pumpkins and roasting them in-house to then whip into the pancake batter.

These are the details that keep customers coming.

Open since 2006, Barefoot Café is the most recent restaurant owned and operated by the Senehi brothers. Raised in an Italian-Persian home in Tiburon, they grew up in restaurants, launching their careers in the 1980s at La Petite in southern Marin. There, Tony developed his "everything homemade" ethos and traditional cooking style while Benny learned the business of restaurants. San Rafael's Blue Moon Diner followed and, a few years after its closing, Barefoot opened with the now-familiar Senehi style.

"We make everything in-house except the bread," says Benny Senehi, whose new American food has a distinct Italian flair.

There is something special about Barefoot's lamb rack. Seared to medium-rare, the slender bones crisp from their brief time in the pan, the meat was juicy and tender, the Northern Californian terroir of the pasture-raised animal evident in each savory bite. A sprinkle of rosemary and thyme and a swirl of sweet and sour pomegranate sauce gave the dish a festive character and highlighted the meat's fresh, vegetal flavors. The knot of garlicky sautéed spinach and mound of mashed potatoes also on the plate are after-thoughts, easily cast aside in favor of the plate's star attraction. Never mind. For $21.95, the meat alone, four nice-sized medallions, was worth it.

With just a bit of broth in the bowl, linguini with Manila clams ($16.95) was fresh, and the noodles glossy. (Gluten-free pasta is available.) Beer-battered fish and chips ($14.95), the cod fried until crisp and brown on the edges, was piping hot and moist, the accompanying cole slaw cut thick and chunky. Though the arugula is simply mounded amid the turned-up beet wedges, a roasted beet salad benefited from a citrusy vinaigrette, the dressing softening the bitter nip of the leaves.

There are numerous daily specials such as the oft-recurring hangar steak salad ($24.95). Tossed together with balsamic vinaigrette, marinated Portobello mushrooms, organic spinach and applewood-smoked bacon, the dish gained a deep, umami-infused complexity.

Desserts, too, change often. Cannoli ($7.50), the filling flecked with chocolate chips, was the size of a baby's forearm, but its American girth did not detract from the fresh Italian character of this cream and ricotta treat.

Wines, such as the Chelsea Goldschmidt Dry Creek Merlot ($10, $38) and Napa Valley's Luna Vineyards Sangiovese ($12, $46), are predominantly Californian and priced between $30 and $60 a bottle. Almost all wines are available by the glass. Beer ($3.50 for Budweiser, $4.50 for Anchor Steam), smoothies ($5.50) and old-fashioned shakes ($5.95) round out the beverage selection.

During the day, the restaurant's tall windows permit sunlight to warm the room; sunny yellow walls give the Barefoot Cafe's large dining room a cheery, energetic feeling. During evening hours, dark wood tables are aglow with candlelight. Our server was new to the cafe, but service proceeded at the pace we requested and without a hitch.

Barefoot Café delivers well-made American and Italian food. Fans can taste the care put into every dish of Tony Senehi's cooking, and return as much for the enjoyable dining experience as for their seasonal favorites. After eating the lamb rack, you might leave the cafe feeling like you have just gotten away with something. And you would be right.

Christina Mueller writes about food — restaurants, chefs, products and trends — for local and national publications as well as other industry clients. Send her an email at ij@christinamueller.com.